


Bring This Ship To Shore

by sitka



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-12
Updated: 2013-09-12
Packaged: 2017-12-26 08:36:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/963872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sitka/pseuds/sitka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Raleigh pilots Gipsy back to land after Yancy's death, but he isn't alone in the drift.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bring This Ship To Shore

**Author's Note:**

> Drift memories inspired from Pacific Rim: Tales From Year Zero, Pacific Rim: The Official Movie Novelization, the Pacific Rim Wiki, and the rest from my imagination.

_One foot, then the other. ___

__Gipsy feels heavy. Raleigh can suddenly sense the full weight of her 1,980 tons._ _

__Yancy was gone. Gone. But he wasn’t really gone, was he? He was still here, Raleigh thought – here in the drift. Mere moments ago, Yancy – the steady, strong right arm – had been ripped mercilessly from the con-pod. It was so sudden, so swift, he hadn’t even screamed._ _

__Yes, Yancy was dead. Gone. Raleigh knew that. But here Yancy was, drifting in and out of his consciousness. Don’t chase the _R.A.B.I.T_. That was Jaegar Academy 101. And yet Raleigh was chasing the R.A.B.I.T. as fast as he could._ _

____

*

_Christmas day. The last Christmas with Mom around. Yancy, only three years the older brother, but wise beyond his years. Helping Mom to her bed while Raleigh glares at the Christmas tree. No gifts again this year. Meds take money. Dad yelling at Yancy down the hall._ Nothing is ever good enough. _Can’t he leave Mom in peace, even when she’s on her deathbed? Raleigh running out the front door in the dead of the night, only after snatching a twenty dollar bill from Dad’s wallet. Yancy lies awake in bed until the door creaks open at two in the morning._

*

_The day Dad leaves. We both know he’s gone the moment we arrive home. Yancy’s holding a note in his hand that he grabbed off the kitchen table. Are those tears in his eyes? Raleigh doesn’t want to know. He turns away. The hallway mirror. All Raleigh can see in the reflection is his father’s face. Smash. He punches the glass, blood and shrapnel flying everywhere._ What the hell, Raleigh?! _Yancy has their mother’s eyes._

*

_It made perfect sense to drop out of school after Dad left and join up with the Pan Pacific Defense Corps. Jaeger Academy is tough but the Becket boys are tougher. Yancy’s smile the first time he earns his Cadet badge. He’s so proud._ Wish Mom was here. _Graduation day. A little too much to drink. Raleigh alone in bed, crying. It’s the first time he’s cried since their dog Lincoln died. He didn’t even cry at Mom’s funeral._

*

_Naomi was so beautiful. She wants to go out with us some time._ Just a Jaegar Fly. Only likes us for what we do. Best to leave her alone. _Can’t hide anything in the drift. Yancy lied. Him and Naomi. Raleigh wishes he had a mirror to punch all over again. Betrayed. Shake hands and make up. Brothers? Brothers. But nothing will ever be the same._

*

_They’re kids again. It’s Yancy’s eleventh birthday. Mom is smiling, cancer-free. Budapest. We used to travel the world. Yancy steals Mom’s lighter from her purse. Looks like magic against the night’s sky. Playing superheroes outside the shop waiting for Mom and Dad. Yancy tossing Mom’s cigarettes into the river while she isn’t looking._ Wish she wouldn’t smoke these stupid things. _Yancy grabs Raleigh into a head lock and messes up his hair._ C’mon, kiddo!

*

Raleigh! _Yancy is shaking him violently. Where is this memory from? Feels strange._ Raleigh, get up! _Why is Yancy doing this?_ Raleigh, you need to get up, do you understand me? You need to keep going. Gipsy needs you! I need you! _This can’t be real. Yancy is gone. But he’s here. As real as flesh and blood can be._

*

Raleigh jolts back into consciousness. He almost believes he’ll see Yancy back in the con-pod when he turns to the right. But of course he’s not there. He’d been drifting with a memory. A ghost.

Raleigh’s left arm is alternating between a searing pain and frightening numbness. The neural load is a lot to take for one, frail human mind. Gipsy is a giant and Raleigh feels small like a child. But Yancy was right, he has to keep going. After all, Gipsy is counting on him. She can feel just as much in the drift as he can. 

_One foot, then the other._

He breathes heavily, keeping his eyes on the horizon as he pilots Gipsy back to shore. Everything feels off kilter. Without Yancy, everything seems as though it’s sloping to the left slightly. It’s as if Yancy’s weight on Gipsy’s right side had been much more than it’s lean 190 pounds. Raleigh had always been Gipsy’s spirit and energy, but Yancy had been her anchor. Yancy had been Gipsy’s heart.

Every mechanical step through the water’s rough waves is torturous. His heart is beating so fast it feels as though it may burst wide open. Then, as if out of a dream, he feels solid ground under Gipsy’s feet. It couldn’t have come a moment too soon. Gipsy is suddenly falling out from under him, her gears creaking and shuttering to a stop. Raleigh does his best to hold on, still anchored into his station. 

And then, with one swift movement, Gipsy falls to her knees.

They both cry out, him with words, her with the groaning of her heavy metal frame.

_Yancy._


End file.
